Centuries old wine cellar found while digging for new metro line in Bucharest

Workers at the future metro line connecting downtown Bucharest to the Drumul Taberei neighborhood discovered a lost wine cellar, which the most conservative estimates put at over a hundred years old, in the Razoare area of Bucharest. The wine cellar, which, according to the first archeological research, could date back to the time of ruler Tudor Vladimirescu (1780-1821), was found in the area where the Academia Militara metro station is planned. Work on the metro line has already been halted, while researchers hunt for more archaeological evidence.

The metro line project will most likely be rerouted due to the discovery. Authorities are thinking of including the wine cellar in the project, so that travelers can see the cellar walls while waiting for the metro. Similar cellars were previously discovered in the area. The owner of the land turned the cellars into a restaurant.

The metro operator Metrorex has just changed the projected the metro line from Universitate area, after similar archeological discoveries.

Work on the Universitate – Drumul Taberei metro line started in November last year and should be finished in 2015, after investments of over EUR 215 million.